‘Fearless’ Felix’s Supersonic Skydive Scrubbed by Wind

Members of the Red Bull Stratos team react to news that Felix Baumgartner's record-setting skydive from 120,000 feet has been postponed -- again -- due to weather. Photo: Jakob Schiller/Wired

The waiting continues for Felix Baumgartner as he and his team contemplate their next move after his dream of a record-setting skydive from 120,000 feet postponed by Mother Nature.

“Fearless” Felix was tantalizingly close to making his death-defying leap into the record book when the mission was aborted due to high wind over the launch site in Roswell, New Mexico. The Austrian adventurer was strapped into his space capsule and dangling from a crane as his crew started inflating the 55-story balloon that would carry him aloft when mission control scrubbed the launch.

“Today’s launch has been aborted at 11.42hrs MDT due to wind gusts making an attempt too risky. Felix has been removed from the capsule,” mission control said in a statement. “At this stage the mission team is closely monitoring possible new launch days before a green light is given for another countdown.”

There’s no word yet from Baumgartner, who has spent five years training for the jump, and no date set for his next attempt. Red Bull tweeted, “It is definitely not off for good. We are just waiting to see when better weather conditions arrive.”

The Red Bull Stratos team fights the wind as it attempts to inflate the 55-story helium balloon that will carry Felix Baumgartner to the edge of the stratosphere. Photo: Jakob Schiller/Wired

Baumgartner hopes to become the first person to exceed the speed of sound (about 700 mph at that altitude) in free fall during a stratospheric skydive from 120,000 feet. Should he succeed, Baumgartner will top an official record set 52 years ago when then-Capt. Joe Kittinger took a leap from 102,800 feet. Kittinger, like Baumgartner, hoped to expand our understanding of what happens during a free fall from extreme altitude. Such lessons could be valuable as commercial space flight takes off.

Baumgartner’s already made two test jumps — from 13 miles up in March and from 18 miles up in July — and spent the weekend completing a detailed “dress rehearsal” of the 58 steps he will follow before his capsule lifts off.

The jump was originally scheduled for Monday, but team meteorologist Don Day had it pushed back 24 hours due to weather. The timetable had Baumgartner beginning his ascent at dawn today, but wind gusts pushed the launch to 11:30 a.m. Mountain time. Even as Baumgartner waited through the morning, mission control continued preparing for liftoff.

Felix Baumgartner leaves his capsule after his stratospheric skydive from 120,000 feet was aborted due to high winds at the launch site in Roswell, New Mexico. Photo: Red Bull Stratos

Baumgartner donned his custom-made space suit, then was strapped into his capsule shortly before 11 a.m. Mountain time. But it soon became apparent that the wind would not cooperate; the balloon, which has a volume of 30 million cubic feet and weighs nearly two tons, was being whipped about even as it was being inflated. Mission control decided it was too risky to proceed.

“I’m going through a lot of misery because I’m looking at a big image of Felix in front of me, so I can only imagine what he goes through,” technical project director Art Thompson said during a press conference at the launch site. “As y’all know a multi-year build up to get to this point.”

The launch window is not expected to reopen before Thursday because a cold front is expected to bring more wind on Wednesday. The clock is ticking, because the weather will only grow more challenging as winter approaches.

The balloon, made of plastic one-tenth as thick as a sandwich baggie, can be launched only in near-calm conditions. Although the wind was calm on the desert surface this morning, it was hitting 20 mph at an elevation of 700 feet, a height the massive balloon will approach once fully inflated.

The fact that the team started inflating the balloon before the mission was scrubbed raises another problem — the balloon, for safety reasons, is used once. Now that it’s been partially inflated, the team must rely upon the spare. They could get another, but given that the balloon is made from 40 strips of material that would cover 40 acres if laid out over a field, it’ll take awhile.

“It’s possible to get other balloons, [but] the lead times are probably not good unless someone happens to have one,” Thompson said.